"Yes and no," Varric said and waved his hand a bit. "She pays you the actual coin, and it's her coin up front, but it ultimately comes out of what I get paid if a book succeeds. It's complicated, like a really long, expensive bet, but she's the one who handles all the detail work."

Today was a strange day. When he sat down this morning he never thought he'd be teaching a Dalish elf all about how book sales went or explaining Reader fees. Then again, he also hadn't expected to be hiring her to read his next novels, either, but sometimes weird stuff just happened. She couldn't be worse than the guy he had already; she already seemed a far cry sharper than he was.

"She can courier it to you or send papers to the nearest treasury, that part gets a little strange when you're out in the middle of nowhere, but she's the best at what she does. I wouldn't work with her if she wasn't."